Jupiter
'Jupiter '''is the 5th planet from the Sun, the largest Gas giant and the largest planet in our Solar System. It is a gas giant. Inside gas giants, the atmospheric pressure is so high, that the planet below gets squashed into a liquid of hydrogen and helium. Under the atmosphere, there is a ocean of extremely deep gas which makes no difference that a spaceship cannot land there. Structure Jupiter is a gas giant, with pressure so high that it squashes the hydrogen and helium below, forming a global ocean of gas. Underneath the layer of liquid gas, hydrogen becomes another, thicker ocean of metallic hydrogen gas which is much hotter than the ''surface, allowing convection cells to be transported to the atmosphere. Some astronomers think a small rocky core lurks in the center and is so hot, that it creates convection. But there is a problem with the core. Others think that the core is made up of different, and possibly heavier elements or it does not really exist. To solve this problem, and to find out about the strange weather patterns in the Jovian atmosphere, the Juno spaceprobe has launched in August 2011 and will complete its five year journey to Jupiter in 2016. The distance from Earth to Jupiter is not exactly five years. The time that Voyager 1 had taken to reach the giant planet was two years, and New Horizons took exactly 13 months. The time to reach Jupiter depends on the path you are taking and your speed. Juno is expected to reach it in July 2016 because it has and will do numerous orbits around Earth and Mars to use their gravity to reach higher speeds on its journey. When it reaches the gas giant world, it will use infrared and microwave instruments to study the thermal radiation which powers the Jovian vortices and spots and it will also find out about its structure. The mission will conclude in late 2017. When it completes 33 orbits around Jupiter around October 2017, it will be set off course and will plunge into the deep, gaseous atmosphere and get destroyed. Atmosphere and climate The Jovian atmosphere is a thick layer of hydrogen and helium, with pressure so high that it squashes the planet below into liquid. Some parts of the Jovian atmosphere have a thin haze of ammonia which has a bluish colour and blocks out any weather patterns underneath it from sight. The atmosphere is divided into four layers, the highest being the exosphere and the lowest being the troposphere. Pressure also increases lower into the atmosphere, which causes it to turn into liquid. Atmospherical layers *Exosphere *Thermosphere *Stratosphere *Troposphere Climate Jupiter has a stormy climate with many white and red spots, the largest being the Great Red Spot. Storms on Jupiter always come with lightning, and spaceprobes such as Gallileo discovered strong thunderstorms on the night side of the planet. Thunderstorms on Jupiter are small lumps in the clouds, around 1,000 km in diameter and are capable of producing lightning 1,000 times more powerful than the ones on Earth. The red and white storms are formed when hot gas (hydrogen or helium - the primary gases of giant planets) rises from the hot interior of the planet, cools, condenses and falls, the same way that water vapor acts on Earth. The bands are formed by Coriolis forces caused by Jupiter's rapid rotation. They cause rotating cloud bands in the atmosphere. Planetary rings Jupiter has three faint rings, much fainter than Saturn's ones. The three rings are: the halo - a small inner ring composed of dust particles, a brighter middle ring and the gossamer ring. These rings are made of dust instead of ice like the Saturnian rings. The outer gossamer ring is produced by two moons Thebe and Amalthea, and the main ring is produced by Adrastea and Metis. The two rings are probably made from impacts on the four moons which blew out dust into orbit around Jupiter and the powerful gravity caused them to stay in orbit. Magnetosphere The Jovian magnetosphere is hundreds of times more powerful than Earth and creates bright aurorae (N or S lights). It is formed by material currents